Calls for crackdown on professional insurance claimants

Calls For Crackdown On 'Professional Insurance Claimants'

CFM Group have called on the government to allow the industry to find and expose 'professional insurance claimants' which they say are costing Irish businesses and motorists tens of thousands in increased premiums. CFM Group, who are brokers and the parent company of a number of brands including coverinaclick.ie, insuremyvan.ie and insuremyhouse.ie, say that there is currently no database of claimants which can be cross checked by insurance firms to expose repeat claimers

"Current laws protect repeat claimants and pseudo thieves over law abiding Irish motorists and businesses" said Jonathan Hehir Managing Director of CFM Group / Coverinaclick.ie. There is a small but very active cohort who engage in the practice of falsifying insurance claims. This in turn has a knock on effect driving up insurance premiums be they motor or commercial as insurers endeavour to re-coup the losses they have suffered off the back of these claim pay outs. This is then having a devastating effect on some small Irish businesses who can no longer afford the financial burden of commercial and public liability insurance. So too is the financial burden borne by Irish motorists who have seen their premiums soar massively in the past 18-24 months. In Sligo alone the total number of these pay outs in 2015 was 134 seeing a steep increase from 2010 as has been observed across the country.

CFM have joined the growing number within the insurance industry who have been calling on Financial Services Minister Eoghan Murphy to speed up the establishment of the insurance claims register to out insurance claims fraudsters. Claimants entitlements to privacy should not be affected as we would advocate that the register only be made available to the claims managers in insurance companies and possibly the Irish courts. "It would create a more transparent system by which insurers could filter out the small but very active cohort of pseudo claimants".